Small town vs. Big town dealerships

I'm beginning my search for a used Toyota Camry. I live in the Portland metropolitan area in Oregon and have noticed that the price of a Camry in a small town about 30 miles away can be up to $2000 cheaper. Is this typical or should I be weary of the dealership?

The flip side is that small towns far away from big cities don't have any competition. So if I want to look elsewhere, the Honda dealer is 50 miles away, Mazda, Saturn, Kia, etc. are 85 miles or more in different directions. So comparison shopping trips can eat up the savings of cheaper prices. Locally, Chevy, Chrysler, Ford and Toyota are all owned by members of the same family.

The Smart Shopper message board is the place to discuss things like this. Since you're looking for a used Camry, you might also try some of the tools like the Search Used Vehicles link over there in the left sidebar, or perhaps use the Search Forums feature to find topics like:

smaller than the Thomason and Hannah stores in Portland, but not like there's 3 salesmen who double as service advisors and the customer shuttle is a horse and buggy...

I'm sure you'll have a much better experience with McMinnville - I had major issues (actuall, theft of a downpayment) with one of those previously mentioned groups - I don't like the way they do business at all..too many stories from too many reliable people.

....... Can't speak for Buford OR, but it's always good to shop around a little for anything .. but size sometimes doesn't make a difference or lack of population ..

Some dealer friends I know have a 115/125% market penetration and their stores are in smaller rural area's .. sometimes the cost of the "big" city store can cause the majority of the vehicles to be sold at a little higher price .. you never know until you take a look see ..

As a matter of fact, the "Mega Store" craze was invented by a Ford dealer up north in 94/95(?) .. he bought 20 acres of a cow field in the middle of nowhere, about 2 seconds off the turnpike and 30 miles from downtown and sold 6,000+ Fords every year ... Smallville, yes .. small store, no ...

AutoNations bought him out about 6 years ago, and it's "still" a record as far as purchase price goes after 300+ stores .... you gotta love them cows ..............

IMO, the best thing to do is to stop by that dealership and a couple more just for a "look see." Then start negotiations at the shop that makes you feel the most comfortable. If you like the feel of a smaller shop where you'll get more personal attention and they're more likely to remember you when you come back for service or for another purchase, then that seems like the best route.

The problem here is that the average consumer is so dead-set on getting the "best deal" that they will shop your number all over town to save $50. Far too few people consider service after the sale when purchasing new.

....... 2 really good points here ... most buyers are more concerned about the $50/$150 bucks instead of the service department, mostly because they figure they have to give them service no matter what .. the funny part is, dealers can give or refuse service at any time or put them at the bottom of the list if they're busy ..

I have a friend in Ga with a excellent service reputation and he has a sign in his service lanes that read: Customers - Lane #1, other service needs - lane #2 .... when the salesman have gotten to their lowest figure and they hear - "well, I can go to XYZ and get the same vehicle for $150 less", the SM then walks them out to the service area in a very professional manner and asks them which is more important too them .. of course some folks will he-haw around and say "I don't mind driving an extra 20 minutes for service" .... yeah right ..l.o.l....

if a dealer is in a small town but is part of a bigger "Auto Network" they can be friendlier.

There was a Honda dealer north of Dayton, Ohio where I bought my Odyssey and they were very friendly, professional and courteous. Too bad they were a 40 minute drive from my house on the south side of town. Otherwise I would have taken my car there for service.

I'm moving from a small town in VA to NJ. My fiance and i need a second car to pack in all our stuff. I thought that it would be better to just buy a car in VA and then transfer the registration when we move in a month and a half. At least the money we'd spend on a rental would be going to car payments instead ( I have my eyes set on a toyota corolla).

Since I'm going to NJ next week to finalize our new apartment, someone also suggested that I buy a car in NJ before we officially move up to save me the hassle of transferring the title. Is that even possible?

Friendly service aside who can give you the better price on a new car. I have to think that the big dealer who does volume business can afford to do some skinny deals because they are spread out among more high profit sales.

The small dealer may have to try for a home run every time. Or am I wrong here?

By the way, what is the definition of a small dealer? I have a few minor brand stores in my area that sell an average of 160 units per year. I consider that small, although not for an upscale store like Porsche or Land Rover.

I don't think that you can paint with that broad of a brush. Big dealers tend to have BIG overhead too - just think of their newspaper and television advertising costs. Who do you think pays for all that?

Thinking back to the times when I've bought high demand new cars, the best prices were always at smaller dealers, usually out of town.

Hmmm....well, I can think of a couple of purchases that fall into that category. One was from a fairly large out of town multi-line urban store and the other was from a small town multi-line GM dealer.

I have no idea about sales figures and was just speaking in terms of the number of in-stock vehicles actually on the ground.

My buying philosphy is that someone will always sell for less for whatever reason and my goal is to find that store and buy. To that end, I settle on a model and options and get quotes, both locally and out of town. It doesn't take long to see who's willing to seriously compete on price.

I live in a fairly urbanized area, so there is really no such thing as a "small town" dealership, at least in the traditional sense. We do have what I call "highway dealers" and "in town dealers".

Highway dealers generally are high-volume, high-pressure dealerships. They use all of the traditional lines ("what do I need to do to get you into a car today?", "how much can you afford a month?", "my sales manager says we can do the deal if we split the difference", etc). I've bought from dealers like that before, but not without having to be on my guard. The main reason I've shopped them in the past is because they've had the vehicle that I've wanted on the lot. However, their "customer service" generally consists of trying to get away with as much as possible.

On the other hand, we also have some dealerships which are "in town" dealerships, meaning that they are off the highway, usually in some downtown business district. They don't see as much foot traffic, and they aren't as high volume as the highway dealers. However, what they do have is good old fashioned customer service:

1. They let you take test drives without the salesperson for as long as you want, and on whatever route you want.

2. The salespeople aren't pushy. No lines like "what can I do to get you into this car today". After leaving these dealerships, I don't have the need to take a shower afterwards!

3. They actually try to match you to the vehicle that you need, rather than just selling what they have on the lot.

4. They are willing to make up for their lack of inventory through dealer trades and factory orders.

In summary, these in town dealerships seem to care about building a relationship with a customer, rather than just selling them whatever car they can at the highest price they can.

In fairness I should note that the Saturn dealership that I visited on the highway had a lot of traits of the in town dealership. Unfortunately, the product that they were selling at the time didn't measure up to the level of their customer service!

I'm looking to get a new vehicle. Right now I live in a fairly big area, with some good dealerships, so I'm not worried about finding a good car. However, I'll be moving in about 6 months to Northern northern California, where there don't appear to be many dealerships. And the ones that are there, are not reviewed favorably.

If I purchase a car, am I required to bring it to a dealership in order to have it fixed, when it's under warranty? I don't really want to purchase a car from any of these dealerships, but it looks like they are the only ones in the area if I'm forced to bring it to a dealer for repairs.